Recently, social network games (hereinafter referred to as social games), which are games provided using a Social Networking Service (SNS), are becoming more common with the spread of high-end portable terminals such as smartphones. A social game is an online game offered via a communication network and played while a user (physical user) communicates with another user (another physical user) through a virtual user. A virtual user is an object existing in a virtual space (virtual world established in the game) that acts in response to the operation of a user (physical user).
For example, one of such types of social games may be a game in which a plurality of game parts such as a quest part, a battle part, a combination part, and a gacha part are organically connected to constitute a single game that creates a world of unique images. In a gacha part, which is a part that constitutes a single game as explained above, a virtual user may exercise a gacha right that has been granted to the virtual user upon satisfaction of a predetermined condition in the game, such as an accomplishment of a mission or a use of actual money in the game. A virtual user may obtain at least one card each time the gacha right is exercised. A card is one type of virtual item (item object) that can be used only in the game. A card is an image of a trading card having an illustration of a monster or a human character (e.g., a baseball or soccer player) appearing in the game. The cards are displayed on the terminal of the user that has obtained the card. The gacha right is a right to request a system, in which a gacha part is embodied in the game, to provide a card and allow the card to be acquired. Exercising the gacha right is typically referred to as, e.g., “to gacha”, “gachaing”, and “to perform gacha”. This reference comes from the term “Gacha-Gacha™” expressing the sound and manner in which a capsule toy, which is a toy enclosed in a capsule, is ejected from a toy vending machine after a coin is inserted into the toy vending machine and the lever is turned. The gacha right is used as one means for delivery and receipt of an item in the game (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-24248).
Another well-known type of game other than a social game is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-24248. When a cellular phone user travels to a certain area and plays the aforementioned type of game, the user may acquire an item limited to the area.
In today's social games, the gacha right is not distributable. Only the virtual user that first obtains the gacha right is entitled to exercise it. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-24416, the gacha right can be used as a means for delivering and receiving a card in a game in which an item limited to the area of a cellular phone can be obtained. To acquire an area-limited card, the user (physical user) of the cellular phone, who controls the virtual user having acquired the gacha right, needs to travel to the aforementioned area, play the game using the aforementioned cellular phone, and exercise the gacha right. If the specific area is in the daily travel area of the user (physical user), it is easy for the user to travel to the specific area to exercise the gacha right. Conversely, when the specific area is outside the daily travel area of the user, it is difficult for the user (physical user) to travel to the area and exercise the gacha right. For example, for an elementary school student in Tokyo to acquire a card limited to New York, the student must travel to New York to acquire the gacha right. Since New York is far away from the daily travel area of the student in Tokyo, traveling to New York to exercise the gacha right is difficult for the student. Unless the period when the gacha right can be used is set to a period of a long-term vacation, such as a summer vacation, it is literally impossible for the student in Tokyo to exercise the gacha right.